William of Saint Amour wrote a marvelous book named De Periculis NovissimorumTemporum or better translated as Dangers of the Last Day. In the book William discussed that he felt that supporters of the antichrist will surely destroy the Catholic Church unless stopped by believers of Christ. This statement was dramatic and unbelievable to say the least. The chance of a group of non-believers being able to destroy an entire religion was nearly impossible. Williams’s statements are false and dramatic to say the least. Below is a few statements found in his text that I will use to prove that William was wrong with what he stated in Dangersof the Last Day. William stated in the second chapter that “the type of man that will destroy the Catholic Church is defined as a man who loves himself more than the truth” (William of St. Amour, 8). The truth being defined as God. William believed that a man who convinced others to love themselves more than God gained enough followers to destroy the Catholic Religion all together (Toronto). This statement was proven false in the sense that, if another man believed in another higher power than God destroys the Catholic Religion then how are there multiple religions all over the world. If one believed in another religion destroyed all other religions than it was fair to say that there would not be religion. Because everyone had their own belief and the chances of one changing a truly faithful believer’s mind, was impossible. There was a section in chapter five of Williams’s book where he stated that “they would none the less cunningly sneak into the homes of individuals under their own authority searching out everyone’s personal affairs or secrets” (William of St. Amour, 25). This was nonsense; William went from discussing destroying a religion to destroying an individual’s property and intruding on their privacy. But William continued by saying that the antichrist follower would seduce the woman and the man and would lead them off to the location where the rest of the antichrist believers were and would convince the captured to say vows that would transform them into antichrist believers (Toronto). For a religion to do an activity such as William expressed, the religion must be desperate for followers, reason being if it were as popular as William made it sound it would have no trouble getting followers but it was more so described as a wimpy religious group who had to kidnap and force people to join. For a religion that William was so worried about taking over the Catholic Religion, it seemed that it was not that powerful. The facts are right in front of you, it was easy to see that William was overreacting. There was no possible way of a small religion taking out a religion as big as the Catholic Religion. The Catholic Religion had been around so long that the amount of followers it had made it nearly impossible to be taken out by the antichrist. William was an amazing philosopher there was no denying that, and there is no credit being taken from all the research he had done and all that his wonderful mind has produced, just this certain piece of material had to be reevaluated and rewritten because, William’s facts were backwards and need to be set straight. Yes the book was written in a time period where religion was very important, unlike today’s world where it is a choice rather than an everyday tradition. But William putting false information out about the attack on the Catholic Church by the Antichrist is unneeded. The Catholic Religion is strong and powerful in its current state and is not going anywhere any time soon.
Work Cited
"William of Saint-Amour - University of Toronto." n.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.
William of Saint Amour also known as Guillaume de Saint Amour was born in Saint Amour, France in 1200. William was a French philosopher and theologist who taught at the University of Paris. William’s philosophy was that he believed that Antichrist followers would become too powerful and would over run and destroy the Catholic Religion. William was declared the Dean of Theology Masters by Paris University in 1250. While teaching William led a group called the Mendicant religious orders, and he wrote a commentary on the logical treaties of Aristotle (Online). William started the attacks on the other representatives and theological scholars at the university due to their different views in the topic of the Antichrist religion. This led to William’s suspension in 1254. In 1254, Pope Innocent IV issued a decree that limited each religious order to only one university masters chair in 1254. A month later Alexander IV became pope and ordered that the masters at Paris receive the Dominicans into the university (Online). William resisted those orders and was suspended by Pope Alexander for writing a book dealing with the antichrist called Dangers of the Last Days. In the story William attempted to show everyone that the Dominicans were the forerunner of the age of the antichrist. William believed that Followers of Antichrist Religion would become too powerful and would destroy the Catholic Religion. To stop this he wrote a book this book published in 1255 and soon Pope Alexander restricted William from holding any academic offices. In 1257, William tried to defend his views but was immediately judged and soon after was exiled from France completely. When the new pope Clement IV took over in 1266 he permitted William to return to France (Online). In 1266, William returned to his home in Saint Amour. The only stipulation was that William had to refrain from attacking other religious orders. William agreed but still communicated with many of his colleagues at the university. William of Saint Amour died in 1272 but all of his complete works were published in 1632 for the world to see his brilliance on the subject of theology (Online).
Work Cited
"William of Saint-amour." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.
Williams’s statements are false and dramatic to say the least. Below is a few statements found in his text that I will use to prove that William was wrong with what he stated in Dangers of the Last Day. William stated in the second chapter that “the type of man that will destroy the Catholic Church is defined as a man who loves himself more than the truth” (William of St. Amour, 8). The truth being defined as God. William believed that a man who convinced others to love themselves more than God gained enough followers to destroy the Catholic Religion all together (Toronto). This statement was proven false in the sense that, if another man believed in another higher power than God destroys the Catholic Religion then how are there multiple religions all over the world. If one believed in another religion destroyed all other religions than it was fair to say that there would not be religion. Because everyone had their own belief and the chances of one changing a truly faithful believer’s mind, was impossible.
There was a section in chapter five of Williams’s book where he stated that “they would none the less cunningly sneak into the homes of individuals under their own authority searching out everyone’s personal affairs or secrets” (William of St. Amour, 25). This was nonsense; William went from discussing destroying a religion to destroying an individual’s property and intruding on their privacy. But William continued by saying that the antichrist follower would seduce the woman and the man and would lead them off to the location where the rest of the antichrist believers were and would convince the captured to say vows that would transform them into antichrist believers (Toronto). For a religion to do an activity such as William expressed, the religion must be desperate for followers, reason being if it were as popular as William made it sound it would have no trouble getting followers but it was more so described as a wimpy religious group who had to kidnap and force people to join. For a religion that William was so worried about taking over the Catholic Religion, it seemed that it was not that powerful.
The facts are right in front of you, it was easy to see that William was overreacting. There was no possible way of a small religion taking out a religion as big as the Catholic Religion. The Catholic Religion had been around so long that the amount of followers it had made it nearly impossible to be taken out by the antichrist. William was an amazing philosopher there was no denying that, and there is no credit being taken from all the research he had done and all that his wonderful mind has produced, just this certain piece of material had to be reevaluated and rewritten because, William’s facts were backwards and need to be set straight. Yes the book was written in a time period where religion was very important, unlike today’s world where it is a choice rather than an everyday tradition. But William putting false information out about the attack on the Catholic Church by the Antichrist is unneeded. The Catholic Religion is strong and powerful in its current state and is not going anywhere any time soon.
Work Cited
William of Saint Amour also known as Guillaume de Saint Amour was born in Saint Amour, France in 1200. William was a French philosopher and theologist who taught at the University of Paris. William’s philosophy was that he believed that Antichrist followers would become too powerful and would over run and destroy the Catholic Religion. William was declared the Dean of Theology Masters by Paris University in 1250. While teaching William led a group called the Mendicant religious orders, and he wrote a commentary on the logical treaties of Aristotle (Online).
William started the attacks on the other representatives and theological scholars at the university due to their different views in the topic of the Antichrist religion. This led to William’s suspension in 1254. In 1254, Pope Innocent IV issued a decree that limited each religious order to only one university masters chair in 1254. A month later Alexander IV became pope and ordered that the masters at Paris receive the Dominicans into the university (Online). William resisted those orders and was suspended by Pope Alexander for writing a book dealing with the antichrist called Dangers of the Last Days. In the story William attempted to show everyone that the Dominicans were the forerunner of the age of the antichrist. William believed that Followers of Antichrist Religion would become too powerful and would destroy the Catholic Religion. To stop this he wrote a book this book published in 1255 and soon Pope Alexander restricted William from holding any academic offices. In 1257, William tried to defend his views but was immediately judged and soon after was exiled from France completely. When the new pope Clement IV took over in 1266 he permitted William to return to France (Online).
In 1266, William returned to his home in Saint Amour. The only stipulation was that William had to refrain from attacking other religious orders. William agreed but still communicated with many of his colleagues at the university. William of Saint Amour died in 1272 but all of his complete works were published in 1632 for the world to see his brilliance on the subject of theology (Online).
Work Cited
Prepared by Tyler Dickman